Electronic counting device



1953 s. B. WILLIAMS 2,647,997

ELECTRONIC COUNTING DEVICE Original Filed NOV. 23, 1949' CON L BIA}JUPPLY I INVENTOR SAMUEL B. WILLIAMS aY I,

HIS ATTORNEYS Patented Aug. 4, 1953 ELECTRONIC COUNTING DEVICE Samuel B.Williams, Chevy Chase, Md., assignor,

1 to The National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation ofMaryland Original application N 128,985. Divided an This inventionrelates to a novel electronic counter and in particular to a rbi-quinarycounter for counting in the decimal notation.

This application is a division of application Serial Number 128,985,Whichwas filed on November 23, 1949.

In general, the novel counter for each denominational order contains sixtrigger pairs which are operable alternately to either of two stablestates. Five of these trigger pairs are connected to form a quinary ringin which at any time one pair is in one of said states and the remainingfour pairs are in the other of said states, and the remaining pair formsthe binary portion of the counter, which is operable alternately to oneand the other of the two stable states.

For the sake of explanation, one tube of each pair of the ring will beconsidered as the digitrepresenting tube, and the other tube of the pairwill be considered as the mate tube. The pair which is in said one statewill have its digit-representing tube conducting and its mate tubenonconducting. The stepping of the pairs of the ring, so that the pairin said one state, with its digit-representing tube conducting",progresses around the ring in response to input impulses, isaccomplished from an input meansor driver tube, which short-circuits allthe digit-representing tubes of the ring each time an input impulse isreceived, the particular pair which is in said one state, upon beingshort-circuited, changing to its other state and in so doing generatingan impulse which causes the next pair in sequence in the ring to operateto said one state as soon as the short circuit is removed.

The further trigger pair, which forms the binary portion of the order,is connected to one of the trigger pairs of the ring and is operated tochange its state of operation each time the ring completes a cycle ofoperation. Since, in counting in the decimal notation, the ring willmake two cycles of operation for each ten impulses received, the relatedbinary trigger pair will be operated from one operating state to theother and then operated back to said one state as the ring makes twocycles of operation. Un-

der these circumstances, each pair of th ring, when in said Oneoperating state, can represent two decimal digits, depending on theoperating status of the further, or binary, trigger pair.

The binary trigger pair is also utilized to provide an output signal foreach ten input impulses which are impressed on the quinary ring. Thisoutput signal can be used to prepare a tens trans fer means foroperation or to operate'any other.

desired means.

dvember 23, 1949, Serial No.

this application November 14, 1951, Serial No.

2 Claims. (Cl. 250-27) It is an object of the invention, therefore, toprovide a novel bi-quinary counter.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel stepping meansfor advancing the digitrepresenting condition of an electronic countingring. I

With these and incidental objects in view, the invention includescertain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, apreferred form or embodiment of which is hereinafter described Withreference to the drawing which accompanies and forms a part of thisspecification.

The drawing is a circuit diagram of a repre-' sentative denominationalorder of a counter which employs the bi-quinary notation to add decimalnumbers.

In the bi-quinary notation, a'decimal value is represented 'by theoperation of two of seven elements, five quinary elements which may benumbered 0 to 4, each representing two decimal values depending u onwhich of two binary elements is operated, and the two binary elements,one of which represents 00 when operated and the other of whichrepresents 5. when operated. When the 00 binary element is operated, the

five quinary elements have decimal values 0 to .4. When the 5 binaryelement is operated,

the five quinary elements have decimal values 5 to 9. The quinaryelements are represented by the digit-representing tubes 200 to 204 andtheir mate tubes 200' to 204'. The five pairs of quinary tubes arearranged in a closed ring, the "zero tube being tube 200. The binaryelements are represented by the tubes 205 and 205' arranged in a triggercircuit. Tube 205. when conducting, represents 00 in the bi-quinarynotation. Tube 205, when conducting, represents 5 in the bi-quinarynotation. Thus, for example, if tubes 200 and 205 are turned on and areconducting at the same time, the decimal value of 0 is represented by0-00 in the bi-quinary the decimal value in the lei-quinary ducting inplace of tube 205, of 5 is represented by 0-5 notation. I v a Thecircuitis arranged so that when tube 204, representing the quinary 4, isturned off and tube-200, representing the quinary 0, is turned on, apulse from tube 204 triggers the binary tubes2l35 and 205'. If tube 205is on at this time, it is turned oil, and tube 205 is turned on.Similarly, if tube 205 is on at this time, it is turned on, and tube 205is turned on. Thus, a count of five changes the binary representationfrom t 00? to 5 or from .5? to 00. Since a change from 0-5" to 0-00represents a change from" to the decimal nota- Tubes Turned On 4Bi-quinary Decimal Value Notation Quinary Binary Operation of quinaryring The pairs of quinary tubes are connected in a ring circuit, and thenetwork surrounding each pair of the tubes is the same for all. Thecathodes of the digit-representing tubes 200 to 204 inclusive areconnected to ground through a common resistance 206, and the cathodes ofthe mate tubes 200 to 204 are likewise connected through a commonresistance 20! to ground to provide for the same cathode potential onall the tubes in the ring. Only one of the digit-representing tubes 200to 204 and four of the mate tubes 200 to 204' are on at the same time.Hence, the value of resistance 201 should be one quarter the value of thresistance 206.

Each of the tubes 200-204 and 200-204 is provided with a voltagedivider. For example, tube 20! is controlled by a voltage dividercomposed of resistances 208 and 209, the junction of which is connectedin series with resistance 221 to grid 210 of tube 20!. One end of thisvoltage divider from resistance 208 is connected to ground, while theother end, leading from resistance 209, is connected to plate 2|! of themate tube 20!. When the potential of plate 2!! is high, the potential onthe grid 2l0 of tube 20! is high, and tube 20! is held on, Plate 2!! isconnected to the high-potential plate battery via conductor 2!2 andresistance 2l3.

similarly, tube 20! is controlled through voltage divider resistances 2Mand H5, the junction of which is connected through resistance 221A togrid 2l6 of tube 20l. Resistance 2l4 is connected to ground, andresistance 2 l 5 is connected to plate 2|! of tube 20!. The plate 2!! isconnected to the high-potential plate battery via anode resistance 2 l8and conductor 2 l 9. The voltage divider resistances 209 and 2!5 arebridged by condensers 220 and 22! to facilitate the operation of thetubes.

It is evident that, when a positive pulse is applied to grid 2l0 of tube20!, the tube will be turned on, and the potential at plate 2!! isdecreased. This reduces the potential on grid 2l5 of tube 20! throughthe voltage divider resistance 2 5, and tube 20 l is turned off. Whentube 20! turns off, the potential at plate 2! I increases andcorrespondingly increases the potential on grid 2l0 of tube 20! throughdivider resistance 209. The pulse required to operate tube 20! need onlybe such as to start the process of turning off tube 20l. Once thisprocess is started, the two tubes automatically adjust themselves sothat 4 tube 20! is held on by tube 20! and tube 20! is held ofi by tube20!.

The low resistances 22! and 221A in series with grids 210 and 2l6,respectively, may have values of approximately 50 ohms. They serve toprevent such parasitic high-frequency oscillations as might otherwisearise due to the wiring of the networks and tubes and do not interferewith the trigger operation of the tubes as just described. Each of thedigit-representing tubes 200 to 204 and their mate tubes 200 to 204 isprovided with network circuits and resistances similar to those justdescribed for tube 20! and 20!.

The quinary ring is operated by a driver tube 222, which has its controlgrid 232 normally biased from a control means, shown in the parentapplication but not shown in detail herein, so as to be incapable ofresponding to positive input impulses applied thereto over condenser233. This control means can be operated to reduce the bias to conditionthe driver tube 222 for operation in response to input impulses when itis desired to make an entry in this order.

When a positive input pulse is received with the driver conditioned foroperation, it will be effective to operate driver tube 222. The cathode234 of driver tube 222 is connected to resistance 206 in common with thecathodes of the quinary ring tubes 200-404, and plate 235 is connecteddirectly to high-potential plate battery on conductor 2l9. When drivertube 222 is operated, an operated quinary digit-representing tube 200 to204 is short-circuited by driver tube 222 and turned off. For example,if digitrepresenting tube 200 is on, the positive pulse via condenser233 momentarily turns on driver tube 222, which short-circuits and turnstube 200 oiT. When digit-representing tube 200 turns off, tube 200 turnson its mate tube 200 and also applies a positive pulse over condenser229 to digit-representing tube 20!, which is turned on. The reducedpotential at plate 2!! of tube 20!, actin through voltage dividerresistances 2i! and 214, turns off mate tube 20!.

When tube 204 is turned off, tube 200 is turned on by a pulse throughcondenser 245. The binary tubes 205 and 205 are operated at this time.These tubes, 205 and 205', are provided with a resistance networksimilar to the quinary ring tubes such as 20! and 20!. The grids oftubes 205 and 205' are connected through condensers 236 and 23! and aseries condenser 24! to plate 246 of tube 204. A rectifier 210 isemployed to drain ofi any negative pulse created at the plate 246 oftube 204. Hence, each time the addition through the ring is completedand the adding passes from tube 204 to tube 200, a positive pulse isapplied through condensers 24!, 236, and 231 to the grids of tubes 205and 205. If, for example, tube 205', representing 00, is on at thistime, the positive pulse is effective to turn on tube 205, and tube 205is automatically turned off through the resistance network. Thus, on acount of five, when tube 204 is turned off and tube 200 is turned on,tube 205 will be turned on and tube 205 will be turned off. If theaddition proceeds and tube 204 is turned off and tube 200 is turned onat the time that tube 205 is on, a decimal count of ten would berepresented; the pulse from plate 246 of tube 204 turns on tube 205; andtube 205 is automatically turned off. Hence, a decimal count in theadding circuit which adds up to ten or more will cause tube 205' to turnon and tube 205 to turn oflf.

When tube 205 is turned off, its anode potential will become morepositive, and this change can be transmitted as an output signal overcondenser 225 to prepare a tens transfer means or to operate some othermeans as desired.

A second driver tube 222', which can be conditioned in a similar mannerto tube 222, can be operated by a positive pulse on conductor 254 tocause entries to be made in the counter when desired. This driver tubehas its anode connected over conductor 2|2 to the high-potential platebattery and has its cathode connected over the resistor 206 to groundand, when conducting, will short-circuit the operated digit-representingtube 200 to 204 of the quinary ring and cause the stepping of the ringin the same manner as explained above for the operation of the ring fromdriver 222.

If it is desired to set the counter to its zero representation, withtubes 200 and 205 conducting, a positive impulse over conductor 296 canbe impressed over suitable condensers to the grids of the tubes 20!) and205'.

In the operation of the novel counter, an input impulse applied to thedriver tube 222 or 222' will cause the operated digit-representing tube200 or 204 of the quinary ring to be short-circuited and caseconducting, which in turn causes the corresponding mate tube to operateand hold the digit-representing tube in unoperated condition. The anodepotential rise as the digit-representing tube becomes non-conducting istransmitted as a positive impulse to the next digit-representing tube inthe ring to cause it to conduct and, in turn, cause its mate tube tobecome nonconducting. In this manner, conduction can be caused to occurin the successive digit-representing tubes of the quinary ring insuccession.

Each time the digit-representing tube 204 is changed from its conductingstatus to its nonconduoting status in a cycle of operation of thequinary ring, it will send a positive impulse to the binary trigger pairto reverse its operating status.

The novel counting arrangement, therefore, can count in the decimalnotation, and the various digits of the notation can be represented bycombinations of the conducting status of various ones of thedigit-representing tubes of the quinary ring and the operating status ofthe binary trigger pair.

While the form of the invention shown and described herein is admirablyadapted to fulfill the objects primarily stated, it is to be understoodthat it is not intended to confine the invention to the one form orembodiment disclosed herein, for it is susceptible of embodiment invarious other forms.

What is claimed is:

1. In a bi-quinary electronic accumulator, the combination of a quinaryportion consisting of five pairs of tubes, each pair containing adigitrepresenting tube and a mate tube, an operating potential supplyfor the digit-representing tubes, operating potential supply for themate tubes, circuits connecting the tubes of each pair for operation asa trigger pair having two stable states, and circuits connecting thetrigger pairs in a ring for operation in which one pair after another insuccession will have its digit-representing tube conducting; a binaryportion consisting of a pair of tubes, circuits for supplying operatingpotential to the pair of tubes and for connecting the tubes foroperation as a trigger pair having two stable states, and a couplingbetween this trigger pair and a pair of the ring by which this triggerpair will be given an operation each time the pair of the ring operates:said binary portion and quinary portion combining to represent decimalamounts; input means including means in the operating potential supplyfor the digit-representing tubes, operable in response to input impulsesto momentarily short-circuit all the digitrepresenting tubes in the ringto turn on any conducting digit-representing tubes; and means in thetrigger circuits of the ring to enable any digit-representing tube whichis turned ofi to send an impulse over the ring connection to cause thenext digit-representing tube in sequence in the ring to conduct when theshort circuit is removed therefrom.

2. In an electronic accumulator, the combination of a plurality of pairsof tubes, each pair containing adigit-representing tube and a mate tube;an operating potential supply for the digitrepresenting tubes; anoperating potential supply for the mate tubes; circuits connecting eachpair of tubes to operate as a trigger pair which is operable to eitherof two stable conditions; circuits connecting the trigger pairs in aring for operation so that one pair after another will have itsdigit-representing tube conducting in succession; means in the operatingpotential supply for the digit-representing tubes, operable in responseto input impulses to momentarily short-circuit all thedigit-representing tubes in the ring to turn 011 any conductingdigit-representing tube, the mate tube of the digit-representing tubewhich is turned oif operating through the trigger circuits to maintainthat digit-representing tube non-conducting; and means in the triggercircuits to enable a digit-representing tube which is turned on to sendan impulse over the ring connection to cause the next digit-representingtube in sequence in the ring to conduct when the short circuit isremoved therefrom.

SAMUEL B. WILLIAMS.

References Cited in the file 01' this patent UNITED STATES PATENTSNumber

